Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren testified before a congressional subcommittee Wednesday
Topics included issues like healthcare, education, the relocation settlement obligations of the U.S. and water rights.
Speaking to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, Nygren described how federal funds are needed to support the Navajo people.
He asked the committee to exempt both the Indian Health Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs from automatic budget cuts and renewed a request for $5 billion to clean up hundreds of abandoned uranium mine sites on Navajo land.
Nygren says chronically underfunded programs represent a failure of the federal government to uphold its trust obligation to tribes for equity and socioeconomic justice.